Chapter 6

"So what do you say?" She wanted to save Remy, but was she willing to give up her life to do so? This was different then taking a bullet and dying so another could live. This means being in servitude to this thing that wouldn't mind hurting her in the name of science. What he's asking for means that she wouldn't be able to live. There has to be a better way.

"Ah won't give up my life. So either come up with somethin better or ah'm leavin." /Would I leave?/ She wasn't too sure she would. But she had to take the chance.

"Fine. I just want to run a little experiment. When it's done you're free to leave. Is that okay with you?" /That was probably all he wanted in the first place./ Pretending to think it over, she agreed. "I believe you're an honest person, but it would be best if I had a better guarantee that you would return."

"What?!" Of course she would come back. It wasn't like she was going to run to the Professor and ask him to send all the X-Men to the base to kill this guy.

"This vial holds a special liquid that has a delayed killing effect. If you don't return by the appointed time and take the antidote it'll kill you." Handing her the vial he waited for her to take it.

"How long will ah have?" The liquid was pure white, and when she snapped the top off and sniffed, it had a very pleasant smell.

"Fifteen minutes. Plenty of time to activate and see the results of the machine. You might even be able to share a few words before coming back." Rogue wanted to get it over with. Seeing that he nothing else to say she tipped her head back and downed the whole vial. It even tasted heavenly, and she enjoyed the flavor for a few seconds before running off hoping again that she made the right choice.

"I miss Rogue." Jamie sat on the couch and channel surfed, but found nothing interesting to watch. "When is she coming back?"

"Yeah! We all know she went to help Gambit, how much longer is it going to take?" Jubilee sat on the floor in front of the couch and stared at the infomercial.

"I miss Gambit." Rahne licked her lips as the man on TV took out a juicy looking steak and cut it showing how nicely it was done.

"Yeah he would always liven things up." Amara sat down properly in the chair before slouching as Tabitha taught her.

"He is a cool guy to be around." Bobby winced from his choice of words as sat on the floor next to Jubilee and pulled her onto his lap.

"And he brings out the best in Rogue." Roberto came up next to Rahne who was standing behind the couch and held her hand. They both blushed at the contact, since it was only recently that they admitted that they liked each other.

"Can you both lay off showing affection or at least wait until I have a girl?" Ray plopped down on the opposite side of the couch from where Jamie was sitting.

"Well at least they're not as lovey-dovey as Gambit and Rogue. Have you seen what they do in her room?" Tabitha seeing nowhere comfortable to sit plopped down on Ray's lap. Looks like shocker might be getting a girl sooner than he thought.

"How exactly did ya see what's goin on in her room?" Sam sat on the armrest near Jamie and snatched the remote away when an old episode of baywatch came on. It was outdated but to guys, it's still good. The guys lost all attention towards the girls.

"Turn that thing off before I blast it! We're having a serious discussion in here." Sam knew Jubilee wasn't joking so he wisely turned the screen off.

"You didn't answer Sammy's question, Tabs. How do you know?" The other's leaned in closer. They all were wondering when exactly she became pregnant. And how the two could pull off doing it without any one noticing.

"Well first off my rooms right next to hers and I saw Gambit sneak in hella times. They act all innocent but you know the rooms are practically sound proof, so they could be doing anything." Everyone nodded and formed a circle around Tabitha. "Come on with all that sexual tension coming and going they had to relieve it some how..."

"I feel sorry for them though. AIDS and a baby." Amara tried to shush Roberto and pointed towards Jamie. He was too young to be listening to this tuff. "Jamie would you mind leaving? We need to have a grown up talk now."

Jamie was about to tell them the truth, but now that they said that, they could just stay in the dark a little longer. Getting up with his chin held high he walked out of the room.

"I have the perfect idea! Let's throw them a party! We'll go out tomorrow and buy them gifts and stuff then we have a huge bash to cheer them up!" Tabitha raised her arms up in excitement as the girls started chatting about what to do and buy.

"Do you think boy or girl?" "We can buy necessities." "Shouldn't we wait until she's more along." "Then there are the wedding supplies." "I forgot about that!" "Also presents." "What are you buying?" "Medication for the AIDS." "Ewwww."

"He's being shipped out tomorrow." Beast took a huge gulp of the bourbon and slammed the glass back onto the table.

"You're talking like he's a piece of cargo. That ain't nice." Storm was never fond of drinking. She couldn't even remember the last time she drank so much, but that might have something to do with her being drunk then not having done it before. "What do you think Wolvie? Wasn't that mean?"

"What I think is that everyone here has gone nuts. Why did you want to drink this stuff anyways?" Logan brushed a strand of the Goddesses hair behind her ear and stroked her neck.

"Cause Rogue's gone, and we have no possible way to find her. And Remy is going to be going too, and we're sure that we'll never see him again. Unless you want to see him floating in green sludge." She took a solid drink from her glass and gracefully poured more of liquid into the cup. The weather outside became murkier. "And I also lost the bet."

"It's alright. None of us can really take the prize. This was an unfortunate occurrence, so the bet is off." Storm looked a bit happier after that, but it might have been the booze. Beast was happy either way, but that could have been the booze too.

"Same thing goes for the bet those kids were doing. I don't want them upsetting Rogue by asking when she did IT first." /Yes the only person going to be upsetting Rogue would be Logan when he follows her everywhere. I just formed a logical thought. I need something stronger./ Beast reached over and took one of Logan's stronger drinks and chugged it down. /Me. No. Give. Damn...that's better./

"I feel sorry for the baby. It's gonna have to grow up with out a daddy." Storm rested her head on the table to stop it from spinning. "Who's going to teach him to throw a ball, and protect her from girls."

"You mean protect him from girls. Or her from boys." Logan would protect the kid, but he wasn't sure if he could keep them out of that sort of problem. He sure did a bang up job protecting Rogue from that conniving Cajun.

"No I meant protect her from girls. Cause if she gets his eyes girls are going to come after her. Those are some damn sexy eyes." Logan frowned and pulled the glass away from Storm. She definitely had too much if she thinks his eyes are great. No guy would think that.

"I see your point. Poor kid." He took a swing of his drink and glanced at Hank who had a very happy look on his face. He would bet the doctor was turning a little red underneath all that fur. There was also something else in his eyes like he knew something. "What the hell are you smiling about?"

"Oh nothing. It's just..." He lifted his hand and waved it around, but that made him lose balance and he began to sway. "I know something you don't know!"

"Really? Is it something about you?" Storm leaned forward and Beast did the same.

"Nope!"

"Is it about someone in the mansion?"

"Yep!"

"Is about Bobby?" Logan lifted his eyebrow at the first person she named. He shook his head and continued drinking his attention coming up when Beast admitted that it had something to do wit Remy."

"Did he rob a bank?" Logan was about to tune out again but stopped, when she asked if Remy was a cross-dresser. With a negative response Logan went back to drinking.

"He wears contacts?"

"Nope."

"Does it have something to do with Rogue?"

"Yes, sir!" Logan's interest was again peeked with the mention of Rogue.

"Is it something...bad?"

"Yes very bad." Hearing Beast's grave voice made him put the cup down before he would accidentally break. The Professor was already charging him ten bucks for any broken silverware.

"Really bad?"

"Really bad."

"Really Really bad?"

"Really Really bad."

"Really..." Logan slammed his hand onto the table causing his glass to fall over and roll off the table. He winched from the sound and the extra ten bucks he would be paying for it.

"You either spit it out or I'll skin you!" Logan let loose the claws and Beast sobered up a bit.

"Promise me you won't slice me after I say it." /It must involve him too. What the hell happened!/ Logan nodded his head, and pulled the claws back in.

"You see about the whole eloping and..." Logan roared and it was then that Beast realized that nobody told him about that part."

"She's eloping! Like hell she isn't!" Logan would have hunted her down right then if Storm didn't throw her self at him. She wrapped her self around him and hoped that he wasn't too mad to throw her off.

"They can't elope. Remy is going into that thing tomorrow." Storm's words calmed Wolverine down. Thinking that he was being sensible again, she stepped away only to have him go to Beast and push him off the chair. Beast just landed on the floor while Logan walked off a little miffed at himself for such a child-like display of anger. But at least he got to hit the guy. "What were you thinking about bringing up something like that! Now I have to go calm him down again!"

She walked off in a huff, but it was easy to see that she's happy about what's coming up next. Sighing, he left the seat and started to clean up the mess in the room. It seems they will have to figure it out themselves later on. /It's going to be hard on Rogue. But at least Logan won't maim her./

Kitty leaned back on Rogue's bed and waited for the girl to show up. The talk with the Professor earlier filled her mind and she wondered if she should ask the others or not. If she did then they might ask why and she didn't want to get the Professor into trouble. She laughed silently at that thought. /What would the other's do to him anyways?/ Some thoughts came to mind and she repressed them. She wasn't sure about how strong her mental walls were. Trying to pass the time by reading the CD's that Rogue had lying around she heard the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Come in!" For one second she thought it was Rogue, but then she remembered that she was sitting in her room and why would the girl knock then?

"Is it all right if I stay with you here?" Kitty smiled as Jamie entered the room and made his way to the bed. He hoped on and started searching through Rogue's CD collection too.

"Jamie, can I like, ask you something?" Kitty wasn't sure what exactly to say. The kid of course would have known everything that happened. He could make multiples of himself and just listen to every conversation in the house at the same time if he wanted to.

"Sure? Is it about Rogue?" Kitty nodded and sat up. /This is going to be hard./

"Do you remember about a month ago when Rogue, Kurt and me went missing?" Jamie nodded his head and sat crossed legged looking into her face. "What was everyone saying about Rogue?"

"I can't really say. We all agreed not to talk about it again." A part of Kitty sunk a little lower. It seemed that she was hoping that the Professor might have misunderstood.

"Could you please tell me?" She placed her hand on his and squeezed it a bit. The gesture made him relax and after a couple seconds he began to talk.

"They try to make excuses you know, but they started to condemn her as soon as the jet took off with you guys. It was bad. They kept on saying that they expected it to happen, and that they should have never trusted her. The kept on bringing up the fact that she was with the Brotherhood before she joined us."

"Was Jean the one that started it?" Kitty could understand why Jean would say something like that. Not that many people knew this, but Jean actually felt a little bit insecure around Rogue, and maybe a bit jealous too. Jean always has to be the voice of reason, while Rogue does what she wants and ends up being praised for it. Well, not exactly praised but not too heavily scolded.

"Jean said something, but then all the others started agreeing to it. Even the teachers were considering the idea."

"No way! Logan would soooooo not agree with that!" She was starting to believe that the little kid was just pulling her leg. /He better not be or I'll stick him in a wall./

"Logan said something about expecting her to do what she needed to survive. If the Brotherhood could help her then of course she would go. It wasn't like she had any great tie to this side except maybe for him."

"There's Kurt and me! She cares about us!" Kitty pounded the bed and when he gave her a look, she realized that at the time they thought Rogue kidnapped her and Kurt. So Rogue had her friends, and there really wouldn't be a reason for her to go back except for Wolvie.

"I also sort of listened in on the Professor's conversation with them when he came back. He said he understood why they would think that, and that's why they never got a big lecture or anything." Kitty's face was turning red from anger. The whole house turned on her friend! Didn't anyone beside Kurt and her trust Rogue? "Can you please not talk about this again. If the others hear you asking me about it, I'll get into a lot of trouble."

"We won't say a thing." Both Kitty and Jamie nearly snapped their necks as they turned quickly to stare at the balcony. Standing there with a pissed-off look on her face was Rogue.

"I'm sorry Rogue." Jamie ran out the door leaving the two girls in the room. It upset Rogue that he would run out like that until she realized that he probably thought she would be mad at him.

"Kitty, could ya tell Jamie later that ah don't blame him for anythin?" Kitty nodded her head and ran up to give the older girl a hug. There wasn't any caution taken for all the skin that was showing.

"Ya really should get off before ya squeeze me ta death." Kitty brushed some tears from her eyes and started a tornado full of questions. Remembering that she didn't have all the time to do this Rogue shushed her with a gloved finger to the mouth.

"Ah don't have time ta talk. Ya'll understand after ya read this letter. Try not ta let the others know. Ah don't think they would help me if they knew the truth." Rogue handed her best friend the letter and gave her one last hug before she left the room.

"Scott stop pacing! You're giving me a headache!" Jean snapped at her boyfriend and wondered what was bothering him so much. The whole situation seemed romantic to her. Rogue running off to help her one true love that was stricken ill by some unknown reason, so she must scour the earth to find the cure.

"I can't stop! Rogue is out there pregnant searching for a way to fix the guy that did it to her!" Scott threw his hands up into the air and ended up hitting Kurt in the head.

"Vatch vhere you're swinging those things!" Since the bottom floor was taken Kurt decided to pace on the ceiling of Scott's room instead. The place was oddly messy, except for the bed, which made Kurt wonder why such a disorganized man would make sure that the sheets were clean and changed on a daily basis.

"It was an accident and Rogue was a willing participant. It takes two people to make a baby." Jean thought it over and regretted the words. Hopefully Scott wouldn't remember them and use it against her later when she had his kid. After realizing what she thought she turned a bright red. She was only 18! It wasn't time to be thinking about stuff like that!

"Well I think he tricked her into it. All the girls are going gaga over him. So Rogue must have felt that she had to do something to keep him." Evan got strange looks from the rest of the occupants of the room .They didn't expect such an insight from Spike.

"Well no matter WHY she was having sex. The truth is that she loves him now, and he loves her. Anybody can see that!" They all knew that was true, but they still weren't going to make it easy on Remy. Rogue of course would be getting special treatment.

"So are we suppose to support the eloping thing too?" Scott knew Jean wouldn't agree to that. She was a strict believer in the right way of doing things. And that meant having a wedding. But if that was true then she should be mad about the pregnancy thing too.

"Ever girl deserves a wedding with all the people she cares about. And I was mad about the whole pregnant before marriage, but I can forgive that." Scott wasn't all too surprised that Jean read his mind. With the bond that was forming it was becoming easier for her to hear his unguarded thoughts.

"So vhat are ve going to do? Throw them a vedding?" Jean's eyes lit up from Kurt's words and he instantly regretted it. There was something about weddings that made girls go crazy. He remembered a wedding that was held at his village. The women were yelling and crying over mistakes and one time he got too close and the bride saw him. The girl just mumbled something and walked away without giving him a second glance.

"Yeah and I bet we could get some of the others to help too! Okay we should start fast so that Rogue wouldn't have to walk down the aisle with a belly. Kurt get me a piece of paper and pencil. Evan go ask the others if they're willing to help with the Wedding after they're done making party arrangements. Scott go get Kitty. She probably knows what Rogue would want."

"Jean there might not even be a wedding if Remy doesn't wake up." Scott felt something like a slap behind the head.

"Rogue is going to save Remy. Have faith in her." Scott was surprised that Jean was saying this after the way she reacted when Rogue disappeared after the Trask incident. "We don't have time for this! Get your butts into gear! We have a wedding to plan!"

"Hey sugar, feelin any better?" Rogue rested her hand on his head and stroked his hair. He laid still, unaware of his surrounding. A couple seconds earlier she injected a liquid to wake him up, but it would take a few minutes to work. "Ah found a way ta fix ya right up. It took me a while ta find it, and ah had ta agree ta some things that ah didn't want ta. But it ain't permanent or anythin. When ah'm done ah'll come back and we can pick up where we left off."

She knew that she should be saying this when he was awake, but she didn't want him to feel guilty for what happened. Deciding that it was time, she placed the device on his head, and pushed the buttons in the right order to activate it. She was told it would take a few minutes so she spent the time thinking about recent events.

Her mind was so preoccupied with the past that she nearly fell backwards when something touched her hand. Following the hand that covered hers she saw the tanned arm soon to be blocked by pristine white cloth and then reappear before leading to a broad shoulder. Taking the final leap she looked up into the red on black eyes that she loved so much, and felt her self collapse onto his body with relief.

"Is somethin' wrong mon chere?" His voice was low and a little hoarse, but overall he was okay. /He's okay./

"Nothing's wrong." Quickly she looked at her watch and saw that she only had a few more minutes before she had to leave. Forgoing her long speech she said the few words that meant everything. "I love you."

Remy's eyes were unguarded for once and she could see them shine with happiness for a second before his eyes closed and didn't open.

Checking his pulse she figured that it was just exertion that made him faint like that. Kissing him quickly on the lips, positive that he loved her back, she left a letter in his hand and ran off knowing that she wouldn't see him again for a long time.

Slowly a figure entered the dimly lit room and made its way to the bed. Removing the metal device from Remy's head it pushed some of the buttons causing the metal to shift revealing a vial containing a purple-ish liquid. Staying by the bed for a few more minutes it left the room, not noticing the letter placed in the young man's hand.

Essex stared up at the body suspended inside the tube. A sinister smile crept onto his face as he took a sip of his wine. The soft sound of purring warned him of the arrival of his first guest.

"Mystique. So nice of you to come." The cat changed into a blue women that glared at him with contempt. She was offered a glass of wine, but refused not trusting the thing before her.

"Come now Raven. We have worked so hard to come to this point you deserve a little reward." Handing the glass and bottle to her she poured her self a drop, tasted it, and then filled the glass.

"Is he here yet?" A faint vibration was felt as the metal doors leading into the lab were forced open and then once again sealed with no trace of forced entry.

"I had some previous engagements that I needed to attend to." Magneto removed his helmet and joined the other two. "Don't tell me you started without me?"

Magneto didn't worry about poisoning as he picked up the glass that Mystique graciously poured for him. It would only take a single thought to ram any one of these metal objects into their hearts if it ever came down to it.

"So have we come to a compromise?" Erik was secured that he would get Rogue's help in at least one thing of his choosing. So he didn't need to argue about it like the other two did.

"Afterwards she will stay in my care! No more experimenting!" Underneath it all Mystique really did care about what happens to Rogue, and she wouldn't let anything painful happen. If it's avoidable.

"I just want to run some more experiments when it's over. It will make her stronger, and will increase the chances of her succeeding."

"What you are suggesting will be damaging to her mind and body. I won't allow it!"

"She won't even remember!"

"And what if she does?"

"Silence!" Essex and Raven were both about ready to strangle each other when Magneto yelled at them. "We still have plenty of time. Why don't we celebrate for now and talk about this later. When we don't have company?"

At that moment the other two realized that the last person to join in had entered the room and was waiting patiently by the door, a lit cigarette in his mouth.

"And here is the star of the occasion!" The man barely acknowledged the words as his eyes traveled up to the face surrounded by pure whit locks beneath the glass screen. A flash of emotion came on the young man's face before it was covered up by boredom. "What a pleasure to see you again...Gambit."

Author's Note: I can just see everybody looking at the screen wondering what the hell is going on. Well you see the truth is...I can't tell you! Sorry! No way! Cant even bribe me. I ain't giving it away. You know what's funny? This was the scene that the whole story was based on. About two years ago I thought about this happening and then it took me this long to get to it. Originally this was suppose to be one semi-long story, but it...mutated...into a three part epic journey!

So I hope everyone is enjoying this. By the fifteenth chapter (see how nicely I made it? All of them ended with 15.) this will be over. And I'll start up a couple stories that have been bothering me for some time. So again please REVIEW! Even if you just put "What the hell!" It would make my day, because that's what I was going for.

The People who did Review:

Episodic: Now that Sinister has his hands on her there might be a lot of evil bidding, but who knows? And maybe I'll let Bishop and Sage have a cameo in a later chapter.

Rogue4787: It doesn't look very good for Rogue right now though. And advanced classes should go to hell. I thought I should just put that in.

Panther Pendragon: Well Logan is a little confused right now so I doubt he's going to think very clearly on things. And the love thing. Do you really think Scott Summers will ever believe that?

Aro: Bigger mystery. Now you have to keep on reading!

PomegranateQueen: It was perfect! And now here's another perfect place to leave off!

ishandahalf: Rogue made the sacrifice but at least it's not a permanent arrangement. Unless Sinister decides to keep her...

Dreamcatcher89: As you can see I didn't kill off Remy...I'm not going to say anything more about him. And yeah stress balls are fun. You throw them at people's heads and it totally makes you feel better!

enchantedlight: Thanks!